Numerous prior art attachment designs exist to direct water flowing from pipes and down spouts on buildings. These prior art designs have attempted to manipulate the outflow of water from the pipes and down spouts in order to increase the flow efficiency of the water or transfer the water to a different location.
However, almost all of the prior art patents fail to adequately provide an apparatus which properly disperses the water away from the down spout or pipe and maintains the water dispersing apparatus in such a manner to keep the prior art water dispersing apparatus from interfering with operations and maintenance around the water dispersing apparatus. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,814,529, 3,861,419, and 5,358,007, require manual manipulation of the water dispersing apparatus to move these prior art devices out of the way when maintenance or other operations are required around those prior art down spouts or water dispersing devices.
Other prior art devices have attempted to position the water outlet attachment in the surrounding structure or the ground. However, these prior art devices failed to adequately maintain the structural integrity of the water outlet device in order to maintain the water flow from the pipe or down spout. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,397,655 lacks any reinforcing feature designed to strengthen the device and requires structural support from the surrounding materials in to which it is inserted in order to maintain a proper water exit opening height for the drain pipe.
The current invention is an improvement over the old designs in several ways. For example, the current invention adds a structural support element built into the water emitting attachment in order to maintain the dimensions of the outlet end of the attachment. Also, the inlet end of the current invention facilitates engagement of the water emitting attachment to a pipe or downspout through inclusion of ribbed attachment members spaced around the inlet end of the current invention. Also, the outlet end of the current invention is an improvement over these prior art devices through the improved water emitting design that increases the fluid dynamic flow out the outlet end of the current invention thereby reducing erosion around the outlet end of the current invention.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a low profile attachment with increased structural integrity for efficiently emitting water from a pipe or down spout.